Bigglesof266

Generally not interested in American builds, with the singular exception of the Airacobra. And what a magnificent job you've made of yours. Most inspiring. In the particular love your retro-ing of the kit to a P-400 in the era of the Guadalcanal campaign. 👍🔟

Had to give you a Trophy for this one. Love the subject choice. 👍🔟🙂 Noted your "overdone it" comments. A tip for future reference if you wouldn't mind? Even with age or neglect, doped silver fabric covering doesn't discolour as you've represented it, and as you've rightly pointed out, that particular aircraft was maintained in pristine condition. Try if you can to get to an aerodrome and have a look at a real silver doped airframe. Ordinarily by the very nature of the tech, and especially during an epoch when labour was cheap and plentiful with no problem giving someone orders/instructions to clean, the covering was (and is still for extant examples IMPE) maintained, hangered and redoped regularly so it never gets the kind of dirty worn look an unpainted alloy skinned airframe can. Difficult to determine from extant photos I realise. Probably better to say, at least I've never ever seen one look like that -from the perspective of someone who's been active at every level of full size operational aviation for > 50 years now, and spent time around that 'tech' from the era e.g. DH.82s, DH.89, DH.84, Austers, assisting with maintenance, ground handling and on occasion flying some of them at aerodromes over those years since the age of 16. Otherwise, love it. More please.

I'd like to see a pic of that Ki-45. Concur re toolings Volksjager. Such a shame about Hasegawa's prices outside Japan though. For a while a few years ago, they were so high in this country modellers pretty much stopped buying the brand, so whoever held the local single line import distro at the time either dropped it or stopped importing them so they became unavailable locally at a (r)etail level -other than extant stock. Only this year, I've seen them reappear to a limited extent on BNA MW's website, but their prices are Eduard Profipack -without the inclusions. Fortunately I bought up on Hasegawa opportunistically amortizing shipping as best I could and import from HLJ (Japan) when they've have Christmas reduced price plus bonus points promos over a the half decade before COVID pushed International shipping rates shipping to 'don't even think about it!' insane. All 1/48 of course except for the 1/35 armour and a single 1/32 indulgence of my favourite Japanese type, their 2007 tool IJA Ki -61-I which builds as a Hei OOTB which I couldn't resist as a treat. Although I picked up a couple of non-IJN/IJA subjects of interest too from their always in batch production regulars, e.g. P-39Q/N, Fw 190A-3, I focussed primarily upon buying the Japanese types, including armour, which none other than Tamiya and Hasegawa do generally. I have nothing but praise for both brands, ...and your modelling skills which do them justice. 👍 🍻

Lubbly jubbly! 🍻 Particularly love the conventional nose Ki-46 I, II & III. Aesthetically, a beautiful looking aircraft. Haven't any IJA/IJN in 1/72 these days, but do have Tamiya's Ki-46 Hyakushiki Shitei III Kai (61056) in 1/48. I suppose now being of an age where 30 years ago seems like' just the other day', where many would see something kitted in 1997 it as old mould, I don't perceive it as such. Typical Tamiya. Crisp mouldings, perfect fit, (relatively low parts count, quality plastic (& colour thereof) to work with, clear transparencies, sufficient accuracy, inner and outer detail for me, and at a very amenable price. Was an enjoyable build. Also have Hasegawa's 'younger' "Toryu" in 1/48. As is typical of Hasegawa, equally tasty but with a higher parts count and detail. I haven't built it yet, although it's been pawed over more than once.

A lot of work has gone into this. Very nice. 🔟 Ki-46 & Ki-45 are two of my favourite IJA subjects ever since unable to resist Roy Cross' imagination exciting box art, saving up, buying and building my first Airfix "Dinah" in 1/72 way back in late 1966 or early 1967. Seeing more IJA/IJN modelled from the Shōwa Empire era is always good. 👍

Love it. Old as that Italeri mould now is, wasn't when I bought it in 1991, it's still a decent 1/72 standoff representation of the original MiG-29 instantly recognisable as such which scrubs up very well in its warpaint. And nicest of all so very affordable and an easy quick build. Of course, not one for the super-detail fans not in the same class as more recent 1/72 offerings from Zvezda comparing directly with their Su-33 kit, but in 1/72 that does me well enough that I haven't bothered with a Zvezda MiG-29 reboot yet. An aside, similar vintage and again not in the accuracy and detail league of Revell's for those seeking it OOTB, nevertheless Italeri's Tornado in the same scale looks the part well enough in 1/72 too.

Builds into a standoff scale model of the earlier "Hanomag" Sd.Kfz. 251/1 OOTB. Been a while so can't remember the actual Ausf, but a "C" as best I recall -tell being the shape of the horizontal V bulge of the 'tail' superstructure and simplified single piece hexagonal 'nose' armor plate. Like most earlier Tamiya kits from the early 1970s of a time when they were the only game in town pretty much for many types, this one too has inaccuracies and is absent the detail which might be found on a more contemporary tooled model of the subject. But, it still builds into an clearly identifiable model of the subject, and there is loads of aftermarket available for it which with patience and the spend, will turn it into a first rate model of the Sd.Kfz. 251/1. As is my policy, happy to build mine vintage OOTB I didn't go there, preferring to buy the silk purse shortcutting the hard work for pretty much equal to greater spend as necessary from the outset if wanted. A fun kit to build which looks the part in its warpaint with the dynamic figurines provided, mod with Tamiya's inexpensive 1974 (or Zvezda's more recent) towed 37mm PaK 36 kit, or same fitted for a Sd.Kfz. 251/10 if preferred. Heaps of alternative "how to" vids and mod articles on this kit. Do a search. GL. Enjoy.

Don't quote me on the following IanC, as my memory may well be mistaken. I do know there is no extant example of the Stirling, and when I was reading Airfix's stance on not doing new tool kits for which there were neither a surviving airframe example nor original engineers drawings and why years ago, I vaguely recall the Stirling being mentioned as an example of same.

To start with, very nice job. Neglected by modelling manufacturers, I suspect we all understand the probable why it is so. Sadly, the Stirling will never sell in the numbers of its much better known and famous sibling the Lancaster. Notwithstanding Italeri's offering of a few years ago, of course I agree with everyone else that I'd like to see it revisited with a new tool release of the quality of Airfix's Whitley et al by someone, and as most of us would suspect, Airfix of course the perfect candidate. That said, more a comment on your headline to say, only if one permits it to be. I also suspect perspective on the kit (A07002 the current rebox of the original 1966 release) itself a matter of modeller perspective dependent in degree upon age and era of their youth. My own is not to try and turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. It is what it is. Enjoy it for that and enjoy the vintage building experience as was. That's not to say one shouldn't try and turn out the best sow's ear one can by using one's fitting skills and advantage of masking and airbrush available today, but limit the perfectionism to that. I didn't have as hard a time experience with the Stirling as you did, although there was plenty of flash, and a couple of parts like the pitots short moulded. My 1968 mould Airfix Hampden was worse, as was the 1958 Comet mould. The plastic used on the Made in India kits (as was a decade ago) was soft recycled stuff Airfix used at that time, utterly dreadful to work with, although I like the light blue moulding dye of the Stirling. So as I've inferred above, I have the Stirling kit, built about a decade ago in a nostalgic revisitation accomplishing something I wanted to do all those years ago but couldn't then. Ten going on eleven years old I was around at the time of the model's initial release, although I could never afford it then. It was top of the price tier of Airfix's 1/72 kits in 1966, quite beyond pocket money unless saving all for an aeon. Undeniably, the kit isn't up to contemporary standards in company with a quite a few fortunately ever diminishing few others from Airfix's current lineup. e.g. HP Hampden, DH.88 Comet to name but those two. The way I look at it is that they stem from another era when base modeling skills and sanding were prerequisite and airbrushes few. Their target demographic when released were us baby boomer kids and teens who decorated mostly with Humbrol enamels from their near enough limited colour range applied with a hairy stick. The technology used to produce the mould and model along with expectations of everything about the finished result were very different from that of the primary modelling demographic of today. I'd wager most from that time were use as for play fighting imaginary battles with more than a few meeting a fiery dripping plastic end if not blown to bits with a penny bunger. 👍 If built with all of the above in mind and expectations of the final result accordingly, the experience can result n enjoyment rather than the frustratingly "hard work rather than fun". That's not a criticism of your personal preference or contemporary expectation perspective BTW, just an observation of how I approach it. All the best. Cheers.

Tamiya's model still appears to hold up well insofar as I can make out from those images with my eyes. I like it! An aside for anyone thinking of building an SU-85, I have Zvezda's more recent iteration, and whilst I can applaud Zvezda's aircraft recent moulds in their popular 1/48 scale for that genre, their 1/35 scale armour is a bit of a mixed bag. It scrubs up well enough with the following caveats. Notably, Zvezda's hull assembly for their whole new T-34/SU-85 series is a PITA. Their brittle plastic quality is nowhere near as pleasant to work with as Tamiya's models, and they come with no superb sculpted figurines as their aircraft kits and Tamiya's armour kits do, particularly aggravating with no interior detail at all provided even in the upper superstructure for the large top access hatch space nor even detail for its inner face if wanting to model unbuttoned. Although they probably compare favourably price wise in Russia and Eastern Europe with alternative offerings, for the price they are exported to my country, unless happy to model their armour kits unbuttoned, this really detracts from any value advantage if being the motivating purchase of those Zvezda kits my view. Wish that it were otherwise.

Not a Spitfire fan, but, beautiful job! 👍🔟

I had one of these in 1969. Top job! Brought back such nostalgic memories. You've presented it exactly how I envisaged I wanted mine to look, but had zero chance of achieving back then sans air brush, compressor, etc, or most of all aged 14 and with no experience with them even had they been accessible to me, the necessary skills with them.

Top marks -1st Prize- for tenacity in application of that upper and lower lozenge in 1/72 alone!

Although an oldie, it scrubs up well enough & you've done a building and painting. BUT, and not to rain on your parade as I too have that Academy kit (12414 "Special Nose Art Edition"), among other less immediately apparent visually prominent issues of it characteristic of it kits of the era (1988 Miniart repop), it has a problem even Airfix's venerable old mould 1963 kit doesn't. As you can see from the photos its mainplane dihedral is way out of wack needs correction when building, which I found an utter PITA to do. JFI of others who might have one in their stash when they come to building it in the future.

Beautiful! Takes me back to late childhood/early adolescence. Only place I could buy Heller was one more adventurous hobby shop "in town", and only from about 1969. Prior to that it was Airfix in the suburbs, with a smattering of FROG available in town too from about 1967. How I longed for so many of those types done by Heller overlooked by Airfix.

Gotta' love the unfairly maligned Bf 110. Nice ZG G-2. 👍 Hats off for the build in 1/72. I have two of them in 1/48 (Eduard G-4 & an Eduard E), and they're quite the challenge building. I have an Eduard G-4 in 1/72, but haven't been brave/masochistic enough to tackle it yet. 👿

Important VVS aircraft of the period, so I'm glad Zvezda reboxed the Accurate Miniatures kit. Have it, fingered over but haven't built mine yet. Thanks for the build report, and I have to say the finished result does look great as things always do to the outside observer who hasn't gone through the "Arrrgh!"moments with fit etc.

In awe of those of you who build and paint in 1/72. 👍

Nice job Zigomar. Love the Ki-46. In my eyes Tamiya's kit is still a beauty despite being a quarter of a century old. (I have the kit). Along with Hasegawa's Ki-45 & Ki-61, three of the most aesthetically attractive aircraft produced by the Empire of Japan. It's my age of course, but '97 doesn't seem long ago, nor that kit like an "old stuff" kit to me although I totally take on board your perspective. Personally, much as I do like detail, these days that's only if it's (slide?) moulded in, and find detail which will be hidden once the kit is built somewhere between superfluous and inane. Probably the best part of kits today is the ability to reproduce accurate scale, lines and surfaces thanks to modern technology, yet often manufacturers don't get that right either. e.g. Meng's Me 410 series spinners, propellers and oil coolers. Personally, and aware that plastic kit model building today is primarily the territory of adults, I do think kits have swung too far in the other direction too far today so often reflected in their pricing. I think Eduard have the right formula offering their kits as either-or Weekend Editions or Profipacks as their standard issue editions, with select Limited Editions for the more obsessive.

Love it. I've their F1 (6315) in the stash. You've given me inspiration. 👍

Good job!👍 Hetzer isn't a testing build in terms of wheels. Only a single track return idler per side, and apart from the idler and drive sprockets, a single row of large road wheels of which there are only four per side which makes fitment a super easy. I don't think an AFV build gets any easier than that does it? Anyway, nice kit and for a first armour build you've done yourself proud. Couple of questions though if you wouldn't mind? Airfix's rebox of Academy's Hetzer. What are the Airfix decals like? Options? Cartograph or like quality?

Thanks for sharing. Comprehend the nostalgia. Evokes similar memories of many happy hours fighting imaginary childhood battles in miniature with Airfix armour and figurines in the 1960s. I had built that StuG, possibly my favourite available Airfix AFV of the time. Of course, like the much desired "Russian T34" their "Panzer IV" hadn't released back then much to my -and the lovely and patient Mrs. Scott behind the LHS's counter, mutual frustration. According to Scalemates, I see that the T-34/76 apparently released in 1968. If so, Presuming it so, I never saw it appear on shop shelves here in the antipodes until circa 1970, by which time I'd grown to an age where I had transitioned to other activities. There's a story associated with Airfix's unavailability of the Panzer IV until moulded in 1971. I think I must have been about nine (1964) when I went to the LHS 'confronting' Mrs. Scott wanting to buy a "Panzer". In my mind's eye I knew exactly what I wanted. Then ignorant of the finer technical details or discrepancy in size and familiar only with the general similarity in shape, I was after either a late PzKpfw III or IV upgunned to their respective 50mm and 75mm long barrel versions. Of course not knowing at that age that "Panzer" was the ubiquitous equivalent for tank in German. I knew only that I wanted a German "Panzer" (III or IV) from their distinctive shapes in images in the extensive library of books I'd read, and the many documentaries and films seen on television. Poor old and ever patient Mrs. Scott. I recall I kept repeating in abject frustration that I wanted a "Panzer" as she showed me consecutively and I rejected the Panther, the Tiger -she must have been out of stock of the "75mm.Assault Gun", presumably neither of us being aware that at that time, Airfix didn't offer a Panzer III or IV. And of course, this was before the time of the emergence of and proliferation of similar scaled models from Matchbox, Fujimi, Hasagawa et al. In the end, disappointed, I think I went home with the Panther as best I recall. Some short time later their Tiger was also added to my armoury as was the StuG when spied in stock on the LHS Airfix display hanger. Along the way, the "Stalin Tank" (JS III) -gotta' love the marketing to baby boomer kids as was of the 1960s, "Sherman Tank", & "Churchill Tank", Airfix's "Armoured Car 234" variant of the "Puma" were added, as well as their "1916 Mk.1 Tank" (1967), which I recall being super excited about when I first saw it on the hanger having an extant collection of all of Airfix's then fairly new mould and glorious WWI figurines. The WWI German and French sculptings in particular were magnificent, and Brits not too bad either. Sadly, Airfix's "Crusader Tank" and Matilda Tank" moulds didn't make their debut until 1971 and 1973 respectively, by then too late for either my playing or modelling days. The only one of the armour catalogue available in (near the end of) my time I didn't own and build at that time, and never have since, was the "Lee/Grant Tank". It must have been because it released in 1969, very late in the day for said period of interest and activity. Unlike their T-34, I do recall seeing it in shops, although obviously it would have been 1970 or later, which turned out to be later than nostalgia tinged memory recalled without the aid of Scalemates. Well done. You've sent me on a nostalgia journey with your own. Thanks.

Nice. Always pleasing to see another IJN type, particularly the less usual like your Nakajima C6N1.

Nice. I have to admit I've come of an age now where along with never having enjoyed the tedium of applying it, PE is both too much of a challenge to the eyes and fingers so as to make using it for detail doubly unenjoyable, somewhat alleviated by the fact that the level of detail available OOTB with slide moulded kits these days suffices to satisfy my need in a model (vs extremes of a precise replication in miniature). e.g. Scale dependent of course and not for this old mould kit in particular, but for 1/35 and especially Dragon armour kits, parts have become so fine that slide moulded barrels today generally render the purchase of a metal barrel unnecessary. Similar with moulded grilles & latches where weighing up the PE parts supplied and the moulded part, to my eye & for my pleasure it's just not worth my time bothering with the supplied PE alternative.